Offshore Wind Journal

Long-term deal will reduce cable downtime and speed up repairs on five offshore windfarms

CWind will be responsible for cabling on five offshore windfarms on behalf of the offshore transmission owners

CWind, part of the Global Marine Group, has signed an agreement for a five-year cable repair framework contract with Transmission Capital Partners (TCP), a deal that makes it responsible for cabling on five offshore windfarms.

Under the terms of the framework agreement, CWind will be responsible for cabling on the Barrow, Gunfleet Sands, Ormonde, Robin Rigg, Lincs and Westermost Rough offshore windfarms on behalf of the offshore transmission owners (OFTOs).

This is the first group of OFTOs to sign up for CWind’s ‘Complete Cable Care solution,’ which is designed to respond more quickly to power cable damage, bringing new standards in readiness and rapid deployment to the industry.

The service is supported by Global Marine Group’s fleet of cable ships and crew transfer vessels, including ASV Pioneer, a versatile vessel that is premobilised, holding and maintaining a stock of universal power joints and cable with access to qualified jointers, ready to respond to one of the TCP OFTOs covered by the agreement in the case of fault or incident.

ASV Pioneer is on permanent standby at CWind’s offshore service hub in Blyth and can operate from the beach out to a depth of 50 m, covering the majority of all sites.

The framework agreement also gives TCP access to Global Marine Group’s other assets if required for work in deeper waters.

CWind managing director Mike Daniel, who leads the cable care project team, said “This partnership demonstrates the appeal of our proactive approach to long-term cable care. We’re pleased to collaborate with TCP as their risk reduction and repair partner. The agreement raises the standard across the industry for proactive intervention to cable repairs, preventing faults from occurring in the first place.

“Currently, the average time it takes to repair a power cable is 100 days. Utilising pre-engineered scenario plans we are able to work with OFTOs such as TCP to reduce operational downtime by up to 60% and improve speed of repair to just 40 days, which represents an entirely new level of service and reliability in the industry.”

TCP commercial director Dominik Adamus said “We are delighted to extend our existing relationship with CWind to the cable care product which will help us to reduce cable repair times and ultimately decrease the costs of such repairs. With strong support from our insurers we have been able to put a turnkey framework agreement in place with CWind which will improve TCP’s preparedness and ability to respond quickly to power cable faults offshore.”